


Carousal

by unwindmyself



Series: curious shapes shift in the dark [70]
Category: True Blood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Banter, Bars and Pubs, Costume Parties & Masquerades, F/F, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Female Friendship, Femslash, Fix-It, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Possessive Behavior, Sailor Moon References, Slow Dancing, Vampire Family, agency and choices!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-09 19:50:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3262295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwindmyself/pseuds/unwindmyself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The party heats up and while some relationships are debated and analyzed, others are confirmed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carousal

**Author's Note:**

> Part three, "Angel At My Table."
> 
>  **Original Characters** : Tiffany Babineaux, Brandon Daly, implied Heather Rosen, implied Josh Taylor, implied Brittany Hewitt, seen Noël Beringer, Isi Hill, Antoine Henriques, Vanessa Quinones, seen Devi Avninder, seen Rhys Averill, seen Ghaliya Kazdaghli, seen Asra Amirmoez, Mallory Cambridge, seen Amarie Cambridge

The door opens for the hundredth time tonight and even with the dance floor crowded and the booths all but full, Eric takes notice of the new entrants. Also he notices Nora taking notice, as her doing takes the form of sitting up straighter like a cat hearing dinner being served.

It’s the fairies, of course.

“ _Nej, min älskling_ ,” he cautions.

“ _Käften, jag vet_ ,” she mutters. It wouldn’t be so bad, she swears, if she had eaten already, but she didn’t think of it in the rush to prepare for the party. Also, it’s been a few days since they’ve seen the fairies, which she’s sure means she’s lost some of the tolerance for their scent that she’s built up (it’s a process, it’s a stupid one but there you have it) and also they just smell so much nicer than everyone else in the crowd.

Or she’s just being stupid, it’s possibly that.

“You’re not stupid,” Eric murmurs, because of course she said it out loud. It figures.

Huffing, she turns to throw her arms around Eric’s shoulders and kiss him, so roughly she draws blood. It focuses her energy for long enough that she calms, but it doesn’t put up the warning flag that it ought, because in no time flat the Bellefleur girls are standing lined up before the throne and Charlaine is exclaiming, “We’re not interrupting, are we?”

“Oh my gosh, Charlaine, shut up,” Adilyn hisses.

Eric chuckles, Nora groans. “It’s fine,” Eric says. “I see the four of you have actualized your _bishōjo senshi_ fantasies.”

The girls all smile, blushing and playing with their pleated skirts (Adilyn’s true blue, Charlaine’s red, Danika’s forest green, Braelyn’s orange). “ _Arigatō_ ,” Danika says politely.

That gets Nora’s attention for the right reasons, and she perks up, immediately beginning to babble. Eric recognizes what she’s saying as “ _Anata ga nihongo o gakushū shite iru_ ” but the girls all look more confused than they usually do when Nora goes off.

“Uh, what?” Braelyn asks.

“Never mind,” Nora says dispiritedly. “Someday, maybe.”

“Did your stand-in aunt come with you tonight?” Eric asks.

Charlaine smiles all smugly. “Yeah,” she hums. “She an’ Devi an’ Devi’s boyfriend –”

“Rhys is just her friend,” Adilyn corrects, sounding impatient.

“Fine. Sookie an’ Devi an’ Devi’s friend who’s a boy are findin’ a table,” Charlaine explains.

Eric pouts for exactly two seconds before he schools his features into a more normal expression, but not before Jessica skips up and singsongs, “She doesn’t need your blessing, _my lord_.”

“What’s he the lord of?” Danika asks Braelyn, because it’s not entirely improbable that he might have picked up a lordship in the last thousand years.

Eric, meanwhile, swats at Jessica, making a noise of distaste, and Nora catches his wrist, giving him the most scolding look she can manage. (Really, of the vampires she’s the one who looks the most like herself tonight; the little black dress was one she had already, so the only real concessions are the platform shoes and the sunglasses perched unnecessarily atop her head.)

“Hey, y’all,” Jessica says to the fairies, nodding amiably and not even startling when Adilyn steps over to give her a hug. “Cute bows an’ stuff.”

They all beam, primping, and after a second Braelyn says, “Introduce us around?”

“’Course,” Jessica agrees, linking arms with Adilyn and steering them into the crowd.

“Is it usually like this?” Danika asks, sniffing with distaste at a vaguely boy band-looking fellow who’s bump-and-grinding with a sexy Buzz Lightyear.

“She means all wild and sexy,” Charlaine translates.

“Well, it’s a nightclub,” Jessica says sheepishly. “That sorta goes with it.”

“Ick,” Danika says, just before they reach Jessica’s friends’ table.

“Ooh, nice,” chirps Tiffany, who’s quickly identifying herself as the nerd of the group.

“Very,” hums Brandon, eyeing the girls in turn (and thinking all manner of foul thoughts) and landing on Braelyn. “Y’all are smokin’.”

She squirms visibly, not that they’re all not uncomfortable, and as Jessica rolls her eyes and mutters something about “Be nice, they’re just kids” Willa speeds up and grabs Braelyn’s hand possessively, baring her fangs at the offending boy.

“You okay?” she asks in a low voice.

“Yeah,” Braelyn says, kissing Willa’s cheek in an obvious dibs. “Just feelin’ the unpleasant side-effects of bein’ the soldier of love and beauty.”

 

* * *

 

Noël has been spinning a rather _Now That’s What I Call Music_ sort of set, and no such set would be complete without a sappy slow song, even though that’s hardly Fangtasia’s usual. So a ways into the night he drops Selena’s “Dreaming of You,” somewhat just to watch everyone scramble to pair off.

“You leading or am I?” Isi asks Lafayette after pulling him out from behind the bar.

Lafayette shrugs.  “You know how long it’s been since I slow-danced?”

“Then I’m leading,” Isi says decisively, arranging Lafayette into position and beginning to do just that.

“Dammit,” Charlaine mutters.  She’s not, like, into Isi or Lafayette – she can tell they’re pretty clearly not inclined her way and pretty clearly doing their own little semi-courtship thing – but they’re boys that she knows and as she’s watching everyone pair off she’s suddenly really not interested in dancing with one of Jessica’s friends or her friends’ friends or something.

So she reaches across the table in the booth they’ve crammed into for Antoine, who she can’t get as good of a read on and therefore hasn’t ruled out as an object of attraction, and anyway she knows him, too.  Sort of.  “Dance with me,” she declares.

“Uh, okay, sure,” Antoine says, and though on his end it’s more out a sense of brotherly protectiveness than anything else (because he’s pretty sure he can’t get interested in someone who was just born a month ago, but she’s a nice kid) he slides out of the booth.

“Double dammit,” Danika sighs, making a face at Adilyn.

On the other side of the table, Nicole and Vanessa shrug at each other.

“Wanna, Jessi?”

“Sure, Mallory.”

With those invoked code names, Nicole holds a hand out to Danika and Vanessa to Adilyn.

“If you’re cool with that,” Nicole says.

“Yeah, totally,” Adilyn agrees for both of them.

And while the older girls sort of feel like they’re living up to their costumes and baby-sitting, it’s not in a bad way and they’re happy to do it.  Protecting the kids is important.

“You know what you’re doing?” Nicole asks Danika.

“Nah, but how hard can it be,” Danika shrugs, looking at the swaying couples before them. “I figure, our mom is, like, basically an exotic dancer, but in a classy way, so it should come easy to us.”

Nicole chuckles. “Still,” she says. “I’ll lead for now.”

Devi and Rhys spin by, Devi thinking how Scully and Mulder were practical costumes but much less exciting for ballroom, and Danika grins. “Can you teach me that?” she asks Nicole.

“I can try, but no promises,” Nicole says. “I’m only dressed like a dancer.”

Danika notes the leotard under Nicole’s overalls and reminds herself to look up who the hell Jessi Ramsay is when she gets home.

Tara is still lingering behind the bar as couples start forming, and Pam edges up with an eyebrow raised.

“Not keen on partner dancing?” she drawls.

“This ain’t a high school formal,” Tara retorts.

Pam smirks. “Wanna be the bad kids on the bleachers makin’ fun of everyone?”

“Yeah, we’re _so_ disenfranchised and cool,” Tara says.

“I mean, just look,” Pam suggests. “Look at your fairy and her impromptu partner. It always cracks me up when the person following is the taller one.”

Tara skims the crowd, easily finding Danika, currently in Nicole’s arms. They’re not all that different in height; Danika is the taller one, and she seems like it since she’s so lanky, but the fact of her heeled boots right now and Nicole’s canvas sneakers does exaggerate it.

“It’s sorta charming, I guess,” Tara muses. “It’s goin’ on with your friends, too.” She nods to Asra leading Ghaliya.

“They take turns,” Pam explains nonchalantly.

“How diplomatic,” Tara deadpans.

“Or something like that,” Pam shrugs. “I’m more interested in the family drama, honestly.” She nods toward Eric’s throne, where he and Jessica seem to be debating something. Judging by Nora’s expression of annoyance, it’s who gets to take her for a spin.

“Must be quite a balancing act,” Tara says, sounding bored. Her gaze wanders to the door, where Sam (dressed in his grunge best, otherwise known as his usual but with the shirt _untucked_ ) and Luna (hair loose and seemingly unbrushed, black tank top, jeans) are just entering. She lifts a hand in greeting and they take it as a summons.

“Good evening,” Luna says.

“And t’you,” Tara replies. She nods to the crowd. “Just in case you didn’t get enough hormonal romance at your school.”

“Oh, I never chaperone dances if I can help it,” Luna laughs.

Sam leans across the counter to kiss Tara’s cheek. “Hey,” he says warmly. “We came as soon as we could.” Once the restaurant was all cleaned up and closed.

“Well, the night is young,” Pam says coolly. “Pull up a stool and join the sarcasm.”

They do, just in time to see Sookie settle the debate by striding up and pulling Eric onto the floor. Pam laughs out loud at Sookie’s expression (less interest, more determination).

“What’ s goin’ on there?” Sam asks.

“Apparently tonight’s the night the threesome acts more like a pissing contest,” Pam says.

“Huh,” Sam murmurs.

They all fall silent, Sam and Luna because they don’t know exactly what to say and Pam and Tara because they want to listen to what’s going on.

“I see you didn’t join your fairy friends in being a pretty sailor suited soldier tonight,” Eric is saying to Sookie.

“I’m Buffy,” she explains with a look like he ought to put that together.

“Awfully ballsy, coming to a vampire bar dressed as a vampire slayer,” he observes.

“Hey, that may have been her job title but she was also friends with vampires,” Sookie defends.   “Sometimes.”

“Coy euphemism.”

“Shut up and stop teasin’ me,” she retorts. “I saved you from gettin’ in a catfight with a kid, you oughta be a little nicer.”

“I suppose that’s true,” he agrees, for a moment looking slightly perturbed. He turns to look over his shoulder to see Nora and Jessica, who… have mostly stopped dancing and are instead making out.

“How’s… how’s that goin’?” she asks more softly.

“It’s going as well as could be expected,” Eric says. “It’s not hardly the strangest arrangement I’ve been involved in.”

Sookie raises an eyebrow. “I woulda thought you’d be all… possessive about it,” she says. Given previous attempts to arrange things with him that she’d been involved in, she means.

He knows he’s a hypocrite for saying it, but it’s true enough, so he says it anyway. “It’s different with Nora.” Everything is different with Nora.

And Sookie has figured that out, even if she still doesn’t quite _get_ it. So instead of saying anything more, she rests her head against Eric’s chest as they continue to halfheartedly dance.

“Well, that got abruptly less interesting,” Pam sighs.

Across the floor, Willa and Braelyn (currently just holding hands and twirling slowly like a pair of flower girls at a wedding) are interrupted by a newcomer tapping Willa on the shoulder.

Braelyn makes a face, but Willa whirls around and her smile goes from dreamy to ecstatic in a millisecond. “Mallory!” she shouts, throwing her arms around the girl in question.

“Hey, you,” Mallory replies, grinning.

“Did your sister come?” Willa asks.

Mallory nods toward the DJ booth, where a lanky girl in a black pageboy wig and a nondescript white shirt/black pants combination is leaning against the speaker. “I think she’s hitting on your new DJ,” she smirks. “So, about her usual speed.”

“Well, Noël’s worth it,” Willa says very definitively, because he is a handsome guy.

Braelyn snorts.

“You been up to that yourself, hon?” Mallory asks Willa, expression turning devilish.

Braelyn all but squeaks indignantly.

“Brae, I told you about Mallory, right?” Willa says in a rush.

“Sorta,” Braelyn mutters, all sullenly. “What are you supposed to be?”

Mallory shrugs, tugging at the white knee socks pulled over her leggings and then the belt around her gray-green wrap top. “Mulan,” she says. “At training camp. She was kind of a big deal for me when I was a kid, Chinese heroine and all that.” She tilts her head at Braelyn, then says to Willa, “You told her about me but you didn’t tell me about her.”

Willa’s eyes go wide, like she’s only just realizing why this is an awkward moment. “Oh!” she exclaims. “Yeah. Mallory, this is Braelyn. She’s, uh.”

“I’m her girlfriend,” Braelyn cuts in, finally flashing a brilliant smile.

**Author's Note:**

>  _nej, min älskling_ ; "no, my darling"  
>  _käften, jag vet_ ; "shut up, I know"  
>  _bishōjo senshi_ ; "pretty soldier"  
>  _arigatō_ ; "thank you"  
>  _anata ga nihongo o gakushū shite iru_ ; "you're learning Japanese"


End file.
